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The Counseling Pulpit
The telephone rang at 2 a.m., and an excited voice exclaimed, “I just saw your television program, and your sermon saved my life!” After inquiry, I learned the person calling was a medical doctor who was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs. His addictions had cost him his medical practice, his family, and almost his life.
In his words: “I was in a motel room ready to take my life when your television program came on. In desperation I decided to listen to your sermon. You talked about the keys to the Kingdom, and I felt like I was in a counseling session. I responded to your invitation to pray for Christ to become Lord of my life, and I feel like a brand-new person.”
Now, 10 years later, this man's medical practice has been restored, and he has been reconciled to his family. This illustrates the impact of counseling pulpits in every church where the Word is preached.
THE COUNSELING PULPIT DEFINED
What is a counseling sermon? Is it any different from any other kind of pulpit message?
In a general sense, all sermons that touch people serve a counseling purpose. In a specific sense, the counseling pulpit helps people learn to expand their limits whenever possible and learn to live effectively within limits that cannot be changed.
The true power of the Word is exemplified in the words of the apostle Paul: “Therefore we do not lose heart” (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10,16-181). This is the theme of the counseling pulpit: “We do not lose heart.” Rather, we deal with earthly issues through the eternal truth of the Bible.
THE COUNSELING PULPIT FOCUSES ON NEEDS
Why do people have problems? Problems occur when basic needs are either deprived or pressured to the extent of chronic stress.
Every day we act in ways to meet our physical needs for air, water, food, appropriate temperature, bodily activity, and all of the biological functions necessary to maintain life. We also strive to satisfy our social needs: the desire for being–to feel significant, the desire for belonging–to feel accepted, and the desire for doing–to feel we are making a contribution. And we all have spiritual needs: the inner cry for redemption from sin, the need for reconciliation with God through Christ, and the need for ongoing relationship with the Father by the Holy Spirit.
The difficulty is that all our needs cannot be immediately gratified, which creates ambiguity and necessitates adjustment. Tension occurs when we strive to have our needs resolved. Barriers are imposed through the circumstances of life, and we are forced to delay and often deny gratification. Consequently, we suffer from stress–a chronic external pressure that cannot be satisfactorily relieved, resolved, or redirected. Unmet needs and external traumatic situations result in problems.
The key is learning to adjust appropriately. Our responses determine our attitudes, beliefs, and values. Response patterns decide our character, temperament, and mood. They shape the quality of our behavior, relationships, and prevailing lifestyle.
The apostle Peter offers the solution: “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The counseling pulpit focuses on the unmet needs and frayed nerves of a stressed-out society and offers a Christ who cares.
THE COUNSELING PULPIT OFFERS SPIRITUAL RESOURCES
Modern society has become adept at pinpointing problems. We all have to endure the paralysis of analysis. But where are the answers?
The counseling pulpit utilizes the Word as the one true source in providing coping power to handle stressful situations. It lifts up Christ as the life model to be internalized to meet every need. In Him is life and light for productive living (cf. John 1:1-4).
He was the recourse in every situation. He ate with publicans and sinners, was attentive to the needs of a Syro-Phoenician mother, and was willing to talk with a Samaritan woman.2 To Christ the person was more important than the program.
He related to people in spite of tradition. He treated a case of adultery with understanding and forgiveness, touched people who were diseased and dead, ignored such customs as the prescribed hand washings and customary fastings, and often broke the Sabbath.3 To Christ the treatment was more important than tradition.
He responded to people in a therapeutic context. In fact, His entire ministry was characterized by love, compassion, concern, tenderness, noncoercion, and optimism.4 In a word, Christ epitomized the counseling ministry of the Word in loving concern for His people. To Him attitudes were more important than authority.
Christ is still the source that is reflected by the preacher who ministers from the counseling pulpit. The theme of the counseling pulpit is that through the living Word revealed in the Bible we can internalize a spiritual process that stands up under the pressure of the flesh, the world, and Satan.
An alcoholic friend of mine found that this living Word is true.
Dear Pastor:
A miracle has taken place in my life. My addiction had become so great I was not able to function in speech or normal physical movements. My body shook constantly, and my mind was so twisted I could not make a simple decision. My marriage had fallen apart, and I had lost contact with my children. For years I had prayed for God's help to overcome my weakness. Now I know that He did answer them. I know now He had to let me go through the horrors and nightmares so that I could understand and appreciate what it means to enjoy the love and peace of mind that can be found only by accepting Christ as my Savior. I finally realized I had failed completely in trying to control my life. I asked God to take over my life.
Life today is great, and I am at peace with myself. My family and friends love me, and I even love myself. When I get upset, I remember to let go and let God take over. Faith in God will bring miracles.
Your Friend,
Bill
THE COUNSELING PULPIT MOTIVATES BEHAVIORAL CHANGE
What is the goal of preaching? It should motivate people to move from a lower to a higher plane of living. And it should provide an anointed incentive for appropriate behavioral change in order to cope with stress.
The Bible talks about behavioral change as learning how to grow up in Christ. In our Christian walk we ought to be internalizing a process that makes us mature.
Research indicates that the mature person:
- Strives for self-awareness by minimizing weaknesses and maximizing strengths.
- Cultivates objectivity by accepting circumstances as they really are rather than what they should be, could be, or are wished to be.
- Promotes adjustment to the environment by coping with negative limitations through a positive mind-set.
- Balances emotions by maintaining harmony between thinking, feeling, and doing.
- Displays optimism by viewing problems as challenges for solution rather than causes for depression.
- Accepts responsibility for personal behavior by keeping commitments and preserving integrity in relationships.
Those who suffer emotional pain often lapse into immature response patterns in dealing with life. This is when the counseling pulpit speaks the loudest. It provides resources on learning how to grow up.
The Bible says we should increase in the “fruits of righteousness,” “go on to perfection,” “increase and abound in love toward one another and all people,” “desire the pure milk of the word” in order to grow, and to make every effort to add to our “faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”
This is the power of the counseling pulpit. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the preached Word through the counseling minister focuses on needs, offers spiritual resources, and motivates behavioral change.
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ENDNOTES
1. Scripture references are from the New King James Version.
2. See Matthew 9:10; Mark 7:24-30; Luke 19:1-10; John 4:9,27.
3. See Mark 1:21,41; 2:18,23,27; 3:1; 5:13; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:8; 8:1-11; 9:14.
4. See Matthew 9:36; 13:58; Mark 9:24,25; 10:27; Luke 6:1-35; 13:34,35.
5. List is adapted from results of a 30-year study at Harvard and reported by Ronald Kotulak in “Defending Yourself Successfully” in The Miami Herald.
6. See Philippians 1:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:12,13; Hebrews 6:1; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 1:5-9